Presented at LILAC 2018

1. Emotional intelligence and information literacy:
How cognitive bias interferes with motivation
and skill development
Alexis Smith Macklin, PhD
Dean of the Library
Purdue University, Fort Wayne
macklina@ipfw.edu

2. • Past experiences and prior
knowledge
• Personal beliefs and opinions
• Motivation to learn more
Things that interfere with information literacy
skill development . . .
And why is this important . . .

3. • Triggers an emotional
response
• Plays into pre-existing
beliefs
• Allows us to jump to
conclusions

4. • Conservative Christian families
• First-generation
• Average SAT – 1445
• Requires financial aid
• Works full-time
• White
• About ½ male/female
• Slightly older than
traditional aged
Who are our students?

5. Modes of thinking:
Fast – automatic,
emotional
Slow – systematic,
rational

7. • Poor memory
• Availability of
information
• Anchoring effect
• Belief bias
Cognitive Biases:

8. All Clinton
supporters are
nasty women . . .

9. Heuristic-Systematic Model
• Need to know
• Need to be right
The fastest/easiest way to

10. Behaviourism –
Stimulus and response
Cognitive Learning –
Memory and cognition
Constructivism –
Experience and knowledge

11. Instructional Design
• Introduce stimuli
• Present controversial
information
• Examine thought process
• Evaluate experienceMayer and Salovey (1997)

12. • Understand• Manage
• Use• Perceive
Introduce some
stimuli to
evoke emotion
Use emotional
response to
examine bias
and gather new
information
Examine
thought
process for
evaluating new
information
Incorporate
new
understandings
into knowledge
base

13. 4 activities in
sequence:
Stimuli = image
Controversy = debate
Thought = journaling
Benchmark = survey

14. Below average = 64%
Lowest scores = searching,
selecting, retrieving information
Highest score = understand others
Lowest score = problem-solving

15. • Availability
heuristics
• Belief bias

16. What were you thinking . . . ???
• Accepted arguments at face value if
they aligned with values/beliefs
• Dismissed information that was
ambiguous or had no personal
relevance to them
• Remained inflexible after making a
judgement

17. Money was not an incentive:
• Inconsistent follow through
• Low response rate on SAILS
• Missed deadlines
Intrinsic motivation worked:
• Interest in the topic
• Need to be right
• Feedback

18. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Uninterested Somewhat Interested Interested
Misperceptions continued Cogntive biases addressed Assimilated new information
Motivation
(andwhyitmatters)

19. • Reflection = better judgement
(moved from perceptual to evaluative)
• Awareness = improved understanding of biases in
evaluation process
• Motivation = increased knowledge base
EI for IL Instructional Design

20. Thank you for your interest in this topic!
Thoughts or questions?
Want more information?
Connect with me:
alexius@purdue.edu
asmacklin@gmail.com